A conventional embroidery sewing machine generally employs an embroidery frame, having an outer frame and an inner frame fitted into the outer frame, as a cloth holding device that holds a sewing workpiece cloth in a stretched manner. The workpiece cloth is clamped between the outer frame and the inner frame fitted into the outer frame. The embroidery frame is attached to a carriage of a frame drive mechanism of the embroidery sewing machine and the frame drive mechanism feeds the cloth by driving the embroidery frame in the horizontal direction.
In sewing the workpiece cloth held by the cloth holding device, a sewing pattern cannot be sewn properly when the workpiece cloth is displaced from the original positioning rendered by the workpiece cloth holding device. Thus there is a need to reinforce the capacity of the cloth holding device to hold the workpiece cloth.
Such being the case, a cloth holding device providing increased cloth holding capacity is disclosed in JP-Y-S63-28230, for example. The cloth holding device is an embroidery frame comprising an outer frame provided with a plurality of magnets and an inner frame fitted into the outer frame. In such embroidery frames, the workpiece cloth is placed on the outer frame upper surface and the workpiece cloth is held by the outer frame by attaching a separate set of magnets to the aforementioned plurality of magnets over the workpiece cloth. Thereafter, by fitting the inner frame into the outer frame, the workpiece cloth is held between the outer frame and the inner frame.